Is there a tire thread? What the hell, I'll start one...

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Is there a tire thread? What the hell, I'll start one...

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

Fornax Disaster posted:

There must still be some problems with tire supply chains, I just tried to order a set of BF Goodrich Radial T/As for a 68 Cutlass and was told it would be 8 - 10 weeks! Now this is for 14 in wheels and I�m in Canada but I wasn�t expecting it to be that bad.

I�ll just put Cooper Cobras on instead, they can get those overnight, it will be fine. It�s my third choice, what I really wanted was Coker redlines but those were going to be 400$ cdn per tire!

I ordered a set of four radial t/as last week from a local shop and the smaller front tires were at the shop already the next morning. The larger rears a few days later. So I guess the supply chain varies

# ¿ Jun 9, 2021 04:05

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 12:35

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

MrOnBicycle posted:

I think there might be a risk of the tyres deforming and flat spotting or something if upright. I bought one of those stands that hold each tyre on the center part of the rim so that each wheel is free floating:

Nice to be able to move them around as well.

Oh man this looks real handy. Can you share a link to what you got if you�re happy with it?

# ¿ Jan 11, 2022 03:11

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

I�ll never understand having two sets of tires but not two sets of wheels.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2023 02:44

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

Does anyone have experience/thoughts on Blizzak LT vs Winterforce LT? Looking to have snows ready for a new vehicle I�m expecting in the next month or two. I�ve really liked the Blizzak WS80 and DM-V2, but tire rack ratings have the winterforce rated almost as good, and they�re cheaper with apparently much better tread wear. So wondering if ponying up for the Blizzak is worth it.

Or any better resources for making a decision

# ¿ Dec 2, 2023 20:23

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

wallaka posted:

I had the same experience with BFG AT KO2s. Tread life is surprisingly bad, worse than the Wildpeaks I had before, and they�re louder. I was shocked because they were the standard a few years back.

I do 99% highway and have around 18,000 miles total with 3,000 miles pulling a ~7000 pound camper on the BFG KO2s. I prefer the Wildpeaks.

FWIW that�s not been my experience with the KO2s; these are 4 years old with about 30k miles, though probably closer to 50% highway miles.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2023 18:56

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

Chimp_On_Stilts posted:

I verified the stock tires on the EV9 are 285/45R21 Hankook Ion EVO AS. It turns out these do have the M+S designation. Your comment makes me concerned that these might not be very good in Tahoe snows, however. Hankook's webpage for these tires says the following:

So Hankook themselves are saying these aren't meant for driving in heavy winter conditions which do happen in Tahoe, though it sounds like they'll be fine if the road has been plowed but there's still some snow.

If I was driving and the California department of transportation had initiated chain controls (mandatory use of chains), they would let me continue driving without chains in R1 and R2 conditions because these tires have the M+S designation and this vehicle is AWD. Is that reasonable / safe? I do not want to be some jackass who is overconfident and ends up in a wreck because I thought I was properly equipped when I was not. (See the caltrans webpage on chain controls here.)

Separately, I've been calling around town to try to source some Cross Climate 2 tires. Turns out they're not made in the exact size of this vehicle's stock tires (28545R21), but they are made in 275/40R21. A local tire shop has told me that these tires will fit my existing wheels and that it is safe to do so, though it might result in worse fuel economy.

Is it ok to use tires of not exactly the stock size, or is this person just trying to make a sale?

They also quoted me $2,302 out the door. I see I can order the tires myself online for about $410 each, which means after parts they're asking roughly $650 for labor, tax, and everything else. Is this a reasonable price to have old tires removed and new tires mounted?

Given the expense, and the fact that the Cross Climate 2s aren't available in my vehicle's exact size, I am starting to think I'll use the stock M+S tires and apply chains if conditions are nasty.

Thanks for all the help folks. I'm out of my depth here, your input is really valuable.

You'll be fine in terms of chain requirements with any M+S tires and AWD, yes. Whether you'll be fine in terms of being safe/not getting stuck depends somewhat on your own experience driving in snow, and how much driving off the freeway you are doing up here. For I-80, my experience is that they plow the poo poo out of it and if the conditions get bad enough that AWD with all seasons is not okay with careful, defensive driving, they'll either close the pass pre-emptively or after a big rig jackknifes (they're really good at this and usually happens before conditions get real bad). Off the freeway you might still have problems if you're trying to get somewhere that hasn't had a local plow go through recently with steep hills, etc.

Also, good god tires get expensive with larger wheel sizes. What a horrible trend. I just bought a set of snow tires _and_ 18" wheels (sparco dakar) for barely more than that.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2024 21:39

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

Chimp_On_Stilts posted:

I've been making these regular trips to Tahoe for a decade now, in a FWD vehicle without M+S or 3 peak snowflake tires (chains only). I feel confident because I know I will drive cautiously and slowly, and avoid driving if the roads are a horror show, as I always have done. So I'm thinking the M+S tires may be fine. And as someone visiting to ski, I am mostly driving on well trafficked and well plowed roads. I do appreciate how good the Tahoe area is about keeping the roads clear -- makes sense, gotta make sure the computer nerds from the Bay can get to the lake and spend some money.

I'm just trying to be responsible up front since this new vehicle is heavy (over 5,000 lbs) and I drat sure don't want to bring harm to myself, my family, or anyone else. Better too cautious than not enough. I'll probably take it to Tahoe a couple times on the M+S tires and get a feel for how they're performing while driving extra defensively, then make a decision whether it's worth spending a bunch more money on new tires.

Yeah, seems like you know what you're doing and are taking an appropriate level of precaution. If I were in your position, I'd do exactly what you're planning to do. Carrying chains if you don't mind spending a bit more money to have them isn't a bad idea (and some other areas require you to carry them even with AWD, like Yosemite).

As a side note, how confident are you that your FWD vehicle didn't have M+S? In my experience pretty much anything other than summer performance tires have that designation, but maybe you were in a hot hatch or something.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2024 01:38

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# ¿ May 11, 2024 12:35

Steve French: Sep 8, 2003

Steve French posted:

they'll either close the pass pre-emptively or after a big rig jackknifes (they're really good at this and usually happens before conditions get real bad).

Well, tonight is the first half (quarter) decent storm of the season. Chain control went up at 7:30 and

# ¿ Jan 3, 2024 05:16

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Is there a tire thread? What the hell, I'll start one...